Lin Xu, Ashok Krishna, Sharron Stewart, Katherine Shea, Rebecca Racz, James L Weaver, Donna A Volpe, Nageswara R Pilli, Suresh Narayanasamy, Jeffry Florian, Vikram Patel, Murali K Matta, Marc B Stone, Hao Zhu, Michael C Davis, David G Strauss, Rodney Rouse
Following a decision to require label warnings for concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines and increased risk of respiratory depression and death, the US Food and Drug Administratioin (FDA) recognized that other sedative psychotropic drugs may be substituted for benzodiazepines and be used concurrently with opioids. In some cases, data on the ability of these alternatives to depress respiration alone or in conjunction with an opioid are lacking. A nonclinical in vivo model was developed that could detect worsening respiratory depression when a benzodiazepine (diazepam) was used in combination with an opioid (oxycodone) compared to the opioid alone based on an increased arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2 )...
November 2021: Clinical and Translational Science